DVD : 3/5 Rating : Evil

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (youtube.com)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
this movie reminds me a little of el bora in the sense that you can't judge a character by it's initial introduction.

based on the novel, Ondskan, by Swedish author Jan Guillou - after seeing the makings of - found that the movie/book is based on actual accounts of Jan's life, which is pretty scary considering the story/movie.

it takes a troubled teen of 16 whose violent and comes from an abusive family. his mother sends him to a private school in the hopes of one last chance (as no other local schools will take him). in the beginning you feel that this boy is what the title is talking about. that this boy is evil - as the movie progresses it shows him changing as he makes a friend in the private school.

things i found interesting about this movie.
1. it's based on true events
2. it takes place in finland during the 50's / 60's (right after WWII)
3. how teachers act during that time period.
4. how students acted when left to their own devices.

not a - drop everything you must watch this movie - but it's pretty good. don't let the cover fool you - it isn't a 'Fight Club In A Boarding School.'

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Tokyo Rampage

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
i had high hopes for this movie - mainly cause well... from the plot description. sadly when i saw it it was very disappointing.

it was very slow... and the movie didn't live up to the title of 'Tokyo Rampage.' the story was more like a.... tokyo disturbance more then a rampage.

it's basically bout a gang / yakuza fighting to establish itself and being too scared to do so. so what does the boss do? he tries to get some nut to do it for him... and the nut isn't that interesting either (shown on cover).

it just wasn't a very good gangster movie - with no real insight to that sub-culture / life. i would not recommend this movie.

DVD : 2/5 Rating : 3 Extremes

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (liongatesfilms.com)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
saw this finally - it took two days to watch it. the first night when i tried to watch it i had to stop. it was starting to affect my appetite...

so this movie is a collection of three shorts by three of todays best horror/uber violent movie directors. two i've heard of the third i have not.

Chan-wook Park did the vengence series. old boy, sympathy for mr. vengence and lady vengence.

Takashi Miike did ichi the killer, audition amongst many others.

Fruit Chan i've never heard of but after seeing his short i should look him up.

the three shorts were okay - it wasn't amazing or up to par from their other movies i've seen. but something that i found interesting was how the three movies seemed to mimic the styles of their countries (imho). Fruit Chan's short (chinese) was very normal paced. it seemed like a telling of a very normal story with very very un-normal plot.

Chan-woo Park's short (korean) was very raw, very rash and pretty loud. while Takashi Miike's short (japanese) was very quite and used lots of beautiful scenery which was held for effect.

overall :
Dumpling (Fruit Chan) was the best story - and the creepiest.

Cut (Chan-woo Park) seemed forced. the overall story was a bit hard to believe mainly cause it felt so rushed.

Boxed (Takashi Miike) seemed a bit slow, especially since it was the last short and it followed two movies which was faster paced in it's story telling.

i would have ordered the movie to build up the action / pace. Boxed then Dumpling and close with Cut. but that's just me. personally i'd say go for their full length movies - they're better in every way.

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Hoodwinked

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Official Website
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
saw this the other day - and don't ask why but i also saw the extras on the dvd. the extras 'making of hoodwinked' i thought was more interesting then the movie iteself.

it explained how they came up with the story - got an illustrator to do some very basic drawings and then sat around a table with some friends and recorded the script. they quickly edited the sound and drawings together and then showed it to some local kids ranging from 4-10 year olds.

i can't say if the kids will like this movie or not but if you're an adult you won't. it isn't like shrek. the story is kinda boring and the 'who dun it' is really simple to figure out... but then again they did target audience for 4-10 year olds.

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Shogun Assassin

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
what a disappointing movie. :(

i had high hopes as this movie is based on one of my favorite comic series - lone wolf and cub. i rented it - and started watching it when to my joy the intro of the movie was familiar to me. i had heard it in Kill Bill part 2 when Uma's character and her daughter watches a movie... it's this movie.

so with gleeful content i watched, only to be utterly disappointed. first the main character choice... it was just hard for me to believe a fat-ish guy with a double chin to be a bad ass samuria, plus the movie seemed more like a compilation of fight scenes from another movie / show. the story arc was poor - if you can even find it and they butchered the characters.

they made the final villian the shogun who happened to be a wizard??!?!?! WTF?

avoid it... avoid it at all cost. read the comic series instead.

DVD : 3/5 Rating : Lucky Number Slevin

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Official Website
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
what can i say - i'm a movie whore.

so i didn't see this and didn't want to see this mainly cause of josh hartnett - i'm not a big fan. but with it's all star cast of bruce willis, morgan freeman and ben kingsley... how could i say no, and i was very glad i didn't.

the movie is very entertaining and i gotta say, after this movie i dislike hartnett less. the movie has a very entertaining story with twists and turns, the good guy wins the bad guy loses, etc.. etc.. you get the idea.

the only thing that bugged me about the movie was lucy liu. she was horrible in it (i thought). her character was needed (i guess) but i don't think it needed to be as large of a role as it was. my guess is they expanded the role only cause it was 'lucy liu' and sadly (i thought) she really didn't do much to add to the overall story.

she seemed very out of place if anything. overall - great story, great who dun-it, great pace.

i also enjoyed the fact the director didn't show alot of acts of violence, rather he showed the aftermath of it - which to my suprised worked super well.

looking for good ol' fun entertainment - then this movie is for you.

DVD : 4/5 Rating : Love Me If You Dare

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
saw this yesterday. rented this based on it's trailer - it looked like a romatic comedy, and it started out as such but then mid way changed.

this movie reminded me of bitter moon - where the story explores love, both it's happy side as well as it's dark side.

this movie starts out with two kids, one with an ailing mother and another a porlak from a poor family which everyone teases. they become friends and to make each other happy they play a game of dare. initially it's cute, then funny and as they grow older you see that they have something very very special.

then the turning point when the girl can not distinguish if the boy truely loves her of if it's all just a game... then the story turns very very dark.

it's a great story and well told, just not for the faint of heart and not for those looking for a happy ending. it is NOT like 'when harry met sally' as much as it seems so in the beginning.

watch it, but be forewarned it isn't your typical love story.

DVD : 4/5 Rating : El Bola

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia (in spanish)
Trailer (imdb.com)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
just finished watching this movie.

it's good - but very very hard to watch. it's a movie of a 12 year old boy who lives with an abusive father. the story is told very well showing a slice of life of a 'normal kid' and a 'bad kid' and the family life each lives. they become friends and the 12 year old boy is exposed to a happy family.

he then has to go back to his home where his father awaits. the voilence isn't gratuitous but the movie will have you at the edge of your seat as there are moments of tension where you think something will happen and hope that it won't.

it's a great movie on a very hard subject matter.

fyi - the movie is from film movement (i'm guessing it's the distribution company) and i'm gonna have to rent more movies by them.

ADDITION :
just finished watching the extras on this dvd and i'm very glad that i did. there was a makings of which was mildly interesting, but it also had a short movie called 'More' directed by Mark Osborne which received an Academy Award nomination in 1998. it's a great animated short. don't forget to view it when you rent this dvd.